FBI says person accused of spying at OpenAI had a "Saudi Gov Docs" folder
Accused OpenAI spy had folder called “Saudi Gov Docs,” FBI says
A US court ruled to continue detaining former engineer Abdulrahman Alfozan, accused of spying at OpenAI. The government's detention motion stated that the FBI found a folder named "Saudi Gov Docs" on his iPhone, and found concealed recording devices at his residence similar to those in OpenAI's office, one of which had been placed for at least multiple days in a conference room where a top-secret meeting involving US government officials was held. The motion also stated that he used OpenAI's productivity agent to research which conference room was most convenient for eavesdropping, and used his wife's ChatGPT account to research how to make a concealed recording device automatically record when it detects human voices and support remote control. The engineer joined OpenAI around July 2025, with a base annual salary of 325,000 US dollars, and additionally received 2.2 million US dollars in profit participation units. The motion argued that he had motive to flee, stating that he maintained communication with members of the Saudi royal family on WhatsApp, and had booked one-way tickets to Riyadh for himself, his wife and child, paid for by the Saudi government.
The case pushes the physical security and internal tool permissions of frontier labs to the national security level; the motion stated that the engineer involved used an OpenAI agent to screen conference rooms convenient for eavesdropping.